Are expenses paid with PPP loan proceeds deductible?

11-19-2020Tax Information

The U.S. Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released guidance yesterday (November 18, 2020) clarifying the tax treatment of expenses where a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan has not been forgiven by the end of the year the loan was received. 

Since businesses are not taxed on the proceeds of a forgiven PPP loan, the expenses are not deductible. This results in neither a tax benefit nor tax harm since the taxpayer has not paid anything out of pocket.

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IRS view of Vacation Home Losses

10-22-2020Tax Information

Generally, if you rent out a vacation home while you not using it personally, you can deduct expenses to offset taxable income from the rental.  This includes mortgage interest, property taxes, repairs, utilities, insurance, etc. (Mortgage interest and property taxes are subject to additional rules for a qualified personal residence). 

You might even be able to deduct a loss on your income tax return in that year if your personal use of the vacation home does not exceed the greater of (a) 14 days or (b) 10% of the time the home is rented out.

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Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Forgiveness Applications on Hold Until at Least August 10

07-28-2020Legislation

The Small Business Administration (SBA) advised lenders on July 23 that the PPP Forgiveness Platform will not begin accepting Forgiveness Applications until August 10, 2020, and this date will be subject to extension if any new legislative amendments to the forgiveness process necessitate changes to the system. Final Treasury guidance concerning PPP Forgiveness Applications (which was expected in early July) is now not expected until after related federal legislation is resolved. Banks, accountants and others are being advised not to process PPP Forgiveness Applications until this legislation is enacted and related Treasury and SBA guidance is finalized.

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Refund Status and Tax Withholding Tools

07-23-2020Tax Information

The original tax filing deadline has passed.  Here are a couple of resources available for individual tax payers to get quick answers for yourself for free.

Refund Status
You can check on your refund using the IRS Where’s My Refund? tool. It is available on IRS.gov and the IRS2Go app.   If you do not have access to a computer can call 800-829-1954.  The tool updates once daily, so there’s no need to check more often.  You will need:

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My dead relative received a stimulus check. What do I do?

05-10-2020Tax Information

On May 6, 2020, the IRS came out with the following guidance for Economic Stimulus checks sent to dead people.  The whole answer is at www.irs.gov/coronavirus/economic-impact-payment-information-center#more (See question 41)

In summary,

A Payment made to someone who died before receipt of the Payment should be returned to the IRS in full.  For payments made to joint filers and one spouse had not died before receipt of the Payment, you only need to return the portion of the Payment made on account of the decedent. This amount will be $1,200 unless adjusted gross income exceeded $150,000.

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CARES Act Retirement Plan Relief Provisions

04-24-2020Retirement

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020.

For those seeking access to their retirement funds, these include special provisions for coronavirus-related distributions and loans. For those seeking to preserve their retirement funds, certain required minimum distributions from retirement funds have been suspended.

Coronavirus-related distributions

A 10% penalty tax generally applies to distributions from an employer retirement plan or individual retirement account (IRA) before age 59½ unless an exception applies. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the penalty tax will not apply to up to $100,000 of coronavirus-related distributions to an individual during 2020. Additionally, income resulting from a coronavirus-related distribution is spread over a three-year period for tax purposes unless an individual elects otherwise. Coronavirus-related distributions can also be paid back to an eligible retirement plan within three years of the day after the distribution was received.

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IRS Economic impact payments: What you need to know

03-31-2020Tax Information

The Treasury Department is working on a web-based portal (www.irs.gov) that will allow individuals to submit direct deposit details in order to “receive payments immediately as opposed to checks in the mail.”  Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Friday that people can expect to receive their checks in three weeks – April 17 is when the direct deposits will go into people’s accounts.  A check in the mail could take longer.

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CARES Act Summary Article

03-29-2020Legislation

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) (P.L. 116-136), signed into law March 27, features several different relief programs to help businesses stay afloat, but some of them are mutually exclusive, meaning business owners need to understand each one.

Like you, our firm is monitoring the situation and awaiting guidance from the IRS to implement many of these provisions. In addition, our firm needs to await software companies to make coding changes to allow us to process some of these provisions for our clients.

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IRS Economic impact payments: What you need to know

03-31-2020Tax Information

The Treasury Department is working on a web-based portal (www.irs.gov) that will allow individuals to submit direct deposit details in order to “receive payments immediately as opposed to checks in the mail.”  Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Friday that people can expect to receive their checks in three weeks – April 17 is when the direct deposits will go into people’s accounts.  A check in the mail could take longer.

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CARES Act Summary Article

03-29-2020Legislation

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) (P.L. 116-136), signed into law March 27, features several different relief programs to help businesses stay afloat, but some of them are mutually exclusive, meaning business owners need to understand each one.

Like you, our firm is monitoring the situation and awaiting guidance from the IRS to implement many of these provisions. In addition, our firm needs to await software companies to make coding changes to allow us to process some of these provisions for our clients.

READ MORE